Friday 1 May 2009 12.47 EDT
First published on Friday 1 May 2009 12.47 EDT

The BBC announced its intention to move departments out of London in 2004 after deciding it could no longer justify spending the vast majority of the licence fee in the south-east of England. Here is a CGI rendition of how the MediaCityUK complex in Salford - the development in which the BBC will occupy three buildings on a long-term lease - will look

The new director of BBC North, Peter Salmon, described the project as a great cultural shift that would 'define the way the BBC works for a generation'. Here is an idea of how it will look from inside one of the offices

The Salford Quays site is also home to developments of new apartments as well as the Lowry Centre and the Imperial War Museum of the North. This shot shows how the land looked before work started on the complex